Oconee County voters will confront a hodgepodge of 10 ballot items next May when they vote on efforts to revise the county’s homestead exemptions and freeze property tax assessments for homeowners who have turned 65.
Four of the 10 items repeal or change existing laws, and six enact new ones.
Four of the ballot items have a duplicate, referring on the one hand to taxes paid for Oconee County government and then again to taxes paid for Oconee County Schools.
Two of the items changing existing law cover both school and county government taxes.
Most confusing of the ballot items are two that refer to increases in the homestead exemption immediately to $3,000 and in 2035 to $8,000.
Actually, voters will be asked to increase the existing $2,000 exemption to $5,000 immediately and to $10,000 in 2035 because the state-mandated $2,000 homestead exemption remains in place regardless of what voters do, and the $3,000 and $8,000 is added to that base.
The ballot language, which cannot be changed, makes no reference to the $2,000 base.
The Senate is scheduled to take up the 10 House generated and approved bills providing for the changes requested by the county today (Monday) or Wednesday.
Discussions Began In October
Oconee County’s commissioners began discussing changes to the county’s homestead exemptions and age-based property tax relief at their goal-setting meeting in October of last year.
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| Daniell Explaining Exemptions At Town Hall Meeting 3/21/2023 |
At their first meeting of this year, on Jan. 3, they passed a resolution asking Oconee County’s legislative delegation to change the county’s existing legislation to increase the homestead exemption and freeze property tax assessments for homeowners once they turned 65.
The bulk of property taxes Oconee County residents pay goes to schools (72.2 percent for residents who live outside the boundaries of the county’s cities; 69.4 percent for those in the incorporated areas), and the proposed changes will affect Oconee County Schools as well as the county government itself.
School Board Chair Kim Argo said at that time that the Board supported the changes being proposed by the county.
Proposed Changes
From the beginning, Commission Chair John Daniell, who has spearheaded the initiative for the changes, has said the goal is to increase the current $2,000 property exemption for all homeowners in the county from $2,000 to $5,000.
That increase will go to $10,000 in 2035.
Homeowners who turn 75 will get an additional $10,000 property tax exemption as soon as the changes go into effect, in 2025, according to plans.
And home owners who turn 65 will get automatically a freeze on the assessment of their property.
At the State of the County address on March 14, Daniell explained the need for a change in the current age-based exemptions.
“We have three different senior exemptions that you can go get,” he said. "A lot of people don't even know these are available and if you do know they're available, you have to go to the Tax Commissioner, fill out a lot of paperwork, and try to get the exemption that way.”
“What we’re proposing to do is phase out for these application-based homestead exemptions and go to an automatic property assessment freeze at age 65.”
“We're asking that at age 75 you get an additional $10,000 homestead exemption that will be applied automatically,” he said.
Ballot Items Changing Current Law
The numbering of the 10 bills introduced by Rep. Houston Gaines and Rep. Marcus Wiedower follows no obvious pattern.
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| Ballot Language Repealing Existing Law |
Daniell has said the county has not yet determined how the ballot items will be ordered on the ballot.
House Bill 752 asks: “Shall the Act be approved to repeal the homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for the full value of the homestead for residents of that county who are 65 years of age or over and whose gross household incomes exceed $40,000.00, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"
House Bill 768 asks: “Shall the Act be approved so as to close the acceptance of new applications for the homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for the full value of the homestead for residents of that county who are 65 years of age or over and whose gross household income does not exceed $40,000.00, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"
House Bill 765 asks: “Shall the Act be approved that repeals an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount of $15,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2000, for certain residents of that county who have annual incomes not exceeding $15,000.00 and who are 65 years of age or over, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"
House Bill 791 asks: “Shall the Act be approved that repeals an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Oconee County School District ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of $15,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2000, for certain residents of that school district who have annual incomes not exceeding $15,000.00 and who are 65 years of age or over, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"
County Attorney Daniel Haygood, in an email on Monday (March 27), said the separate bills were needed for the county and the school district based on “how the current exemptions were adopted.”
“The current requirement is a separate ballot item for each exemption and that means separate ballot item for the county and the school district,” he said. “When some of our current exemptions were adopted that was not the case.”
Ballot Items Creating New Homestead Exemptions
Because the current law requires that exemptions be granted separately for the county and the county school district, four bills are needed to implement the exemptions the county is requesting.
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| Ballot Language For Exemption Homeowners 75 Years Old |
House Bill 769 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount of $3,000.00, automatically increasing to $8,000.00 on January 1, 2035, of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that county, provided that all of the other local homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"”
House Bill 766 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Oconee County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of $3,000.00, automatically increasing to $8,000.00 on January 1, 2035, of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that school district, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on this ballot are approved?"
The county cannot change the language of these two bills to indicate that the state mandates a $2,000 homestead exemption, so the totals will be $5,000 and $10,000.
House Bill 763 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount of $10,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that county who are 75 years of age or older, provided that all other local homestead exemptions on this ballot are approved?"
House Bill 770 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Oconee County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of $10,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that school district who are 75 years of age or older, provided that all other local homestead exemptions on this ballot are approved?"
Ballot Items Freezing Property Tax Freeze
The language of the two bills freezing property tax assessments for homeowners who turn 65 makes no mention of that concept.
Instead it treats the freeze as a homestead exemption.
House Bill 764 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides to residents 65 years of age or older a homestead exemption from Oconee County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the base year assessed value, including any final determination of value on appeal pursuant to Code Section 48-5-311 of the O.C.G.A., as amended, of such homestead, provided that all other local homestead exemptions on this ballot are approved?"
House Bill 767 asks: “Shall the Act be approved which provides to residents 65 years of age or older a homestead exemption from Oconee County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the base year assessed value, including any final determination of value on appeal pursuant to Code Section 48-5-311 of the O.C.G.A., as amended, of such homestead, provided that all of the other homestead exemption questions on the ballot are approved?"
The language of the ballot items was determined by the General Assembly Legislative Counsel.
Challenge For County
At the Town Hall Meeting last week (March 21), as well as at the State of the County session a week earlier, Daniell acknowledge the challenge of getting voters to approve what is a tax break.
Gaines and Wiedower introduced the bills the day before, on March 20.
“When you go to the ballot box in the spring of 2024 for the primary,” Daniell said to citizens who turned out at the Town Hall Meeting, “you’ll have 10 ballot questions on your ballot.”
“And every one of those 10 has to pass for us to be able to implement these changes,” he continued. “So if you think what we’re talking about is good, we need your help to educate folks to vote yes on all 10 questions.”
Question On Language
I asked Daniell in an email on Monday morning (March 27): “What are your thoughts on explaining why the ballot items says we are voting to increase the exemption to $3,000 and $8,000 rather than $5,000 and $10,000, as you have said in all of your public statements?”
Daniell offered a technical answer.
“We are taking the homestead from $2,000 to $5,000, so we are increasing the exemption by “3,000,” he said. “The effect of the ballot question achieves our goal of having a $5,000 homestead starting 2025 and a $10,000 homestead starting 2035.”
“The 2,000 exemption is the minimum required by state law,” he said. “The exemption is required by the State but fully funded by Oconee County.”
Daniell said “We have not determined the order of the ballot questions.”
Timing And Impact
The General Assembly met today (Monday) and will meet for its final day on Wednesday.
As of this post, the General Assembly web site is not showing any action on these 10 bills on Monday.
At the present combined millage rates for county government and county schools, the current $2,000 homestead exemption results in a savings of $43 for those who live in the unincorporated parts of the county and $45 dollars for those in the county’s four cities.
If that exemption is increased to $5,000 and the millage rate remains unchanged, the homestead exemption would produce a saving of $107 in the unincorporated parts of the county and $112 in the incorporated parts of the county.
A $10,000 exemption (for homeowners aged 75 or in 2035), at the current millage rate, would produce a $214 reduction in the unincorporated parts of the county and $223 in the incorporated parts of the county.
The freezing of assessments likely will have greater impact, particularly in periods of high inflation in home assessments such as those of recent years.
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